-Break-
Φ While sitting on my lap Mime says, “Old lady we’re sorry!”
Anto sitting on Atalanta’s lap says, “We just wanted candy!”
Knitting away on the scarf Dush says, “Orb do you hear anything?”
“Are we really doing this?”
“Come on take my side.”
“How about we solve this issue like this, the twins will work off their mistake. Because we won’t be getting this scarf done with just the three of us, isn’t that right Atalanta?”
Ignoring me Atalanta continues to knit away with extreme focus. I don’t think I have ever seen her so concentrated on anything like this, my words must have touched her heart, “How cute!”
“Orb stop existing to me you are breaking my concentration,” she says while giving me a glance with stern eyes.
“Um, sorry!”
Getting up from our laps the twins go up to Dush and say, “Where should we start?”
“Listen up, just go like this through this. Hey, are you two paying attention.”
“Sorry granny, we are just so enticed by your technique.”
“The way you move your hands is so beautiful.”
Bashfully Dush says, “Oh you two stop it. ELLIOT COME HERE!”
Suddenly a hole appears on the ground and out of it springs Elliot.
“How did you do that?”
“I have a series of tunnels set through all of Skydust to help me reach lady Dush quickly where ever she may be.”
“Elliot, I need some sweats for these kids.”
“I have it here,” Elliot says throwing the sweets into Anto and Mime's mouths.
“Do you just carry that stuff around with you?”
“A true butler knows what his master wants before they even ask.”
I guess even the non-artisans still hone their field to perfection, every second I spend in this country I feel even more inferior, and my self-esteem is plummeting.
Φ Thieves rule number 5; people are weak to cute things and compliments, use both together and you can beat any opponent.
Our plan worked without a hitch, master teachings always come in handy.
Now, this old lady is giving me and my brother all the candy we want, this is our victory.
Φ Judging by the evil smile on Anto and Mime's faces I guess they set this up on Dush, those two need some discipline. But aren’t they both just so cute, I want to gobble them up.
“Orb the weirdness leaking off of you is distracting, control yourself or you might start acting like Ai.”
Atalanta comparison immediately calms me down and returns me to my senses.
“Orb!” I hear a voice say.
Leaving Dush’s little hut I go outside to see Suzuka, Cyrus, and someone else.
“Did you two finish your business?”
“Sort of, but that is in fact what we came to talk to you about Orb. This man behind us wants to talk to you.”
Walking up to me the man stretches out his hand and says, “Hello I am Jeter Mercury the king of Skydust.”
“EHHHHH! Suzuka how do you and Cyrus know royalty?”
“It is a long story.”
“Well, whatever.” Turning to face Jeter, I invoke all my manners and say, “Hello good sir, my name is Orb, it is truly a heavenly blessing to be in your presence today.”
“Woah, you’re rather fancy,” Jeter says.
Oh, shit is he more causal than that, this is my first-time meeting royalty and I have already messed up. As I start to freak out Jeter says, “You don’t have to get so worried since in fact, I came here to ask you for a favour.”
“A favour?”
“Yes, but I would like to discuss it somewhere else.”
“Follow us, Jetty boy,” Dush says.
“I told you not to call me that.”
“I am 40 years your elder, I will call you whatever the hell I want, Jetty boy.”
“We have a room ready since we were expecting your arrival, my king,” Elliot says.
“Let’s go Orb.”
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
-Break-
Dropping my cup of tea, I stop in my tracks and say, “Are you insane, You’re going to go to war with Gevurah.”
“Orb mind your manners, putting your hands on the table is rude,” Dush says. Looking at Dush the aura around her has completely changed, she isn’t acting like the sporadic woman I have known but that of a woman who befits her title, her presence is just as heavy as Ai's when she is serious.
“When I caught wind of Percy’s return I knew it would devolve into this. So I am guessing the reason you’re here is to use the Zterytavis’s to evacuate the children?”
“You read my mind Dush, can it be done.”
“Well of course it can, I am not going to let all our young get killed in a war. But where are we going to evacuate them to? Many countries will abuse the skill sets of our young, they might be forced into extreme labour.”
“That’s why I have come to talk to Orb.” Getting on his hands and knees Jeter says, “I beg you please take the kids with you. I know this is a lot to ask but I heard about your adventure from Suzuka and know you have a secure place to keep them.”
He must be talking about Maples village Aplos, “Wait a second, how do you even know you can trust me.”
“Granny Dush would never be around an untrustworthy person, and Suzuka and Cyrus’s words about you are always full of love, so I believe you're trustworthy. So I beg you please take them in.”
Φ Looking at Orb I see him put his hand to his face and have a stressed expression, with his hair also turning red. “I am sorry I can’t indulge something so selfish.”
“Was my request too much?”
“Hell yes it was, do you even realize how utterly devoid of kindness you have to be to make your country go to war over your son's actions.”
“Orb,” I say as he continues to fill with anger. I have known Orb only for a little time but the anger he has in his face isn’t something I thought he was capable of.
Seeing this I try to read Orb's thoughts, but his head is overflowing with thoughts, and his emotions are fiery hot, I can barely read them.
“You’re literally about to ruin your country and its entire history over your son's foolish actions. Your son made a choice and should take responsibility.”
“I am sorry, but we have decided to not hand him over to Gevurah, my son is just a kid and has made a mistake.”
Filled with erratic anger, Orb says, “The world doesn’t care if you’re a child or not, if you do something that gets people killed all of that falls on your head. To deny such a thing would be the most disgusting thing a human could do. But instead of making your son take responsibility for his choices you would rather risk everyone’s lives on this!!”
“I am aware of all this, but he is my son.”
“So what, when he makes this mistake again you’re just going to bail him out again.”
“I won’t let this ever happen again.”
“How the hell am I supposed to trust a man who would betray not only his people but the very history of his country? Your stupid son is about to bring destruction to Skydust.”
“Skydust will not fall, we aren’t going into this battle without a plan, and even in the worst case we intend him on fighting to our last breath.”
Increasingly getting more anger Orb breaks the table and then activates his legacy, swinging his arm forward he partially freezes a part of Jeter's body.
“Orb what are you doing!”
“Sorry Suzuka, but I need to make a point. Jeter, I have been around Skydust and I know for a fact you guys aren’t even slightly a militaristic country, you’re all soft creatives who aren’t fit for battle much less war with a superpower like Gevurah.”
“Still, we will fight.”
“Then you leave me no choice, I will go and hand over Percy myself.”
“Orb you can’t be serious.”
“I am dead serious, you see that is the reality of this situation, someone like me could easily get past everyone in this country and take Percy. And I am all but certain that Gevurah has people stronger than me. YOU SEE THIS JETER, THIS IS THE REALITY YOU FACE!!”
“You really are a kind boy; I was right to choose you.”
Gritting his teeth, Orb says, “Has fear made you delirious?”
“Ever since I brought up my plan you have been trying your best to convince me against it.”
“What the hell are you on about.”
“Sorry, but I have two kids, seeing through nonsense is something I have had to learn. If you wanted to make Percy take full responsibility you wouldn’t have told anyone and would’ve snuck Percy to Gevurah in the middle of the night.”
“Shut up!”
“But instead, you stayed here and tried to get me to understand, even as I am frozen now, I fully know you won’t take Percy by force you simply respect my free will too much.”
“I said shut up!!”
“Sorry but regardless of all the reasons you have stated, I choose to help my son, and the people of Skydust choose the same.”
The ice Orb created quickly turns to snow, which allows Jeter to walk free. Seeing Orb his hair turns pitch black, with all the anger he had been showing vanishing. Walking up to Orb, Jeter pats him on the head.
“War is a horrible thing, in so many books I have read the end of their civilizations is always at the hand of war. A country such as Skydust shouldn’t be added to the list of those civilizations.”
“Don’t worry, I will make sure that won’t happen, but it will only be possible if you answer my question.”
“That’s unfair?”
“I know it is, so will you take the kids with you?”
“Just for now, but I am definitely going to return them all.”
“That’s what I hope as well.”
Φ Clapping her hands Dush says, “That was a good show, but what are you going to do about this table.”
“Sorry, I was trying to prove a point, I will fix it later,” I say embarrassed
“It's fine I am just messing with ya. But now that we are sorted, we need to get to the other business.”
“Other business?”
“Yes, the leading of the Zterytavis. To control a guidance of Zterytavis’s you need to have an Alpha leading the group, otherwise, we won’t be able to control such a big group.”
“But how do you control them usually?”
Elliot says, “Normally we never dispatch them in such a big group and have well-trained riders so this isn’t an issue, but with a group, this large and mainly children ridden them it will probably be a big problem.”
Jeter rubbing the back of his head says, “I was hoping you would have a solution to that?”
“You dumbass! Do you just think I have answers for everything, you really are the same tump-sucking, floor-shitting brat Jetty.”
Looking over at Jetty he looks depressed by Dushes words, poor Jetty but we have issues to deal with and maintaining his pride isn’t one. “Wait a second.”
“What is it Orb?”
“Alpha wonderbeasts gain control over other wonderbeasts because A; they release stronger pheromones and B; because of their size. So, if we cover a big object in Zterytavis pheromones we should be able to guide them.”
“But where would we find a giant flying object?”
Letting out a snicker I say, “I know just this place.”
Name: Mime Baudelaire
Age: 10
Birthday: Gemini 4th
Hair: Green (Primary) Indigo (Secondary) Her hair is long.
Eyes: Purple (Left) Indigo (Right) Has a mark under his right eye that looks like this ♊︎
Height: 138 cm
Description: A thief who dresses up like a clown. Together with her twin brother Anto, she hopes to make enough money to build a house out of candy and chocolate. She is a very loving person.
Name: Anto Baudelaire
Age: 10
Birthday: Gemini 4th
Hair: Green (Primary) Indigo (Secondary) Despite the Indigo being his legacy hair colour it is much more prominent than his natural green hair
Eyes: Purple (Left) Indigo (Right)
Height: 138 cm
Description: A thief who dresses up like a clown. Together with his twin sister Mime, he hopes to make enough money to build a house out of candy and chocolate. He is a very excitable person.